Process and apparatus for handling corrugated conduits



m. 5, 1935. H, E NYDER 1,989,950

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR HANDLING CORRUGATED CONDUITS Filed Dec. 21, 1932 I INKENTOE.

BY I vww ATTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 5, 1935 PATENT OFFICE PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR HANDLING CORRUGATED CONDUITS Hubert E. Snyder, Elmira, N. Y., assignor to The American Rolling Mill Company, Middletown,

Qhio, a corporation of. Ohio Application December 21, 1932, Serial No. 648,314

9 Claims.

adequate enough to give the culvert lateral support whereby the arch construction is effective in supporting very heavy top loads. The sidewise expansion of the culvert in seeking lateral support is obviously accompanied by a shortening of its vertical axis. Where adequate lateral support is given without too great lateral expansion, excellent results are obtained; but if the earth is packed loosely about the culvert, or if the horizontal axis of the culvert has to be elongated very greatly before adequate lateral support is given, then the top arch of the culvert becomes flattened and thereby loses some of its inherent strength. These considerations indicate the advisability of installing a culvert in such a way that its vertical axis is longer than its horizontal axis, and employing a culvert of initially somewhat oval shape. In an oval culvert installed with its major axis vertical, such lateral expansion as occurs will merely tend to bring the culvert into round and will not impair the strength of the arch. Additionally, oval shaped culverts or conduits are frequently desirable for other reasons; and one situation in which the elliptical culvert may advantageously be used is in the production of pedestrian, under passes for railroads, roadways and the like. Particularly therefore in the larger sizes of culvert, there are distinct advantages in the oval shape.

My invention relates to the production of oval conduits and more'particularly to means for distorting a corrugated conduit out 'of round, at

least during the installation thereof.

It is an object of my invention to provide means and a method of distorting culvert out of round, which are extremely simple and inexpensive and do not require the employment of skilled labor.

It is an object of my invention to provide a method 'of producing elliptical conduit which may be employed at the point of manufacture, and which may serve during the shipment and ultimate installation of the conduit to maintain it in the desired elliptical form.

These and other objects of my invention which will be set forth hereinafter, or will be apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading these specifications, I accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts, and in that process of which I shall now describe a preferred embodir'nent.

Reference is made to the drawing wherein:--

Figure 1 is an end elevation of a conduit treated in accordance with my procedure. v

Figure 2, is a horizontal sectional view of a conduit having wire tying means.

Figure 3 ma horizontal section of conduit having removable mechanical means for effecting the desired distortion. 1

Briefly in the practice of my invention, I provide internal contracting means which engage with or through the walls of a conduit and will serve to fore-shorten an axis thereof, which axis in the installation of the conduitwill preferably be the horizontal axis.

In Figure 2, I have indicated holes 1 in the valleys 2-of acorrugated conduit indicated generally at 3. Pairs of these holes are located preferably at diametrically opposed portions of the conduit. The holes are preferably, although not necessarily, placed in the conduit at the time of manufacture, and may if desired, be placed in the sheet metal prior to the galvanizing process. Opposite pairs of these holes are connected by a wire tie 4, which may consist of one or more wires, and usually will comprise at least one wire forming a loop through each of the pairs of holes, the ends of the wire being fastened together within the conduit. I have shown the wire outside of the conduit engaging at least one ridge of the corrugations. Inside the culvert, a bar or stick may be placed between the parallel wires and turned, thus tightening the wires by twisting them and drawing the sides of the culvert toward each other. Sets of the wires 4 will be placed along the length of the conduit at intervals as desired, so as to distort the culvert evenly and uniformly by fore-shortening its horizontal axis and lengthening its vertical axis. The work may be done either at the time of the manufacture of the culvert or at the time of installation, and in either event does not require highly skilled labor, complex apparatus or a great length of time. The operation of distorting the culvert may be assisted by some inside expanding member or by some outside contracting member if so desired, but this is not necessary. The ties will maintain the conduit inthe desired distorted form, and after the installation of the conduit may be removed or not, as desired. In this way, I have. provided a means and. method for the. purpose described, which does not involve the use or wastage of great quantities of 'extra material nor dunnage which must be moved fisms'job to job. Figures 1 and 3 show the use of drawpars and tum buckles for essentially the same purpose.

Holes may similarly be put in the valleys of corrugations of a-conduit to be handled in this way; but the number of holes may be reduced. Hooks or brackets 7, which are curved as at 8, to form a means for engaging the crests of the corrugations, are pivotally attached to the rods 10. The rods 10 are threaded and are connected by a turn buckle or similar device 11, which may be rotated to tighten the rods. After the devices have been set into position as shown in Figure 3, the turn buckles may be rotated and the sides of the conduit are drawn together, distorting the culvert as indicated in Figure 1, where the solid lines show the distorted elliptical culvert, and the dotted lines the original circular shape thereof.

As in the case of the wires, all of this work may be accomplished in the field, and after the installation of the culvert, the contracting members may be removed therefrom. It will be the usual practice to distort the culvert out of round, install it in the desired position with its major or longer axis vertical, fill in about the culvert the earth or other material, and when the installation is otherwise completed, remove the contacting members, and allow the culvert sides to expand against the surrounding earth or filling. It will be clear that the devices 7 in Figures 1 and 3, can be unhooked from engagement with the corrugations, and can be removed from the inside of the culvert by giving them a rotary movement.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A process of distorting corrugated conduitout of round, which comprises engaging opposite side portions of said conduit by an internal memthe pass through holes in the sides of said conduit and drawing said members together.

3. A method of distorting a corrugated conduit to an elliptical cross section, which comprises providing holes in opposite sides thereof, inserting means in these holes to engage ridges of the corrugations internally of the conduit, connecting said means by contracting means and drawing the sides of said conduit toward each other.

4. A method of distorting a conduit out of round which comprises providing interspaced holes in opposite sides thereof, inserting a wire through these holes so that said wire crosses the conduit interiorally thereof, fastening the wireto form a loop and drawing the two sides of said conduit toward each other by twisting said wire.

5. A method of setting a culvert which comprises distorting the culvert so as to increase its vertical axis by an internal contracting member engaging opposite sides thereof, placing the said culvert in position, filling in materials about the sides of said culvert and afterward removing said contracting means.

6. A conduit of elliptical cross section having means for tying opposite sides thereof together for maintaining the elliptical shape, said means lying essentially along the minor axis of the ellipse formed by the conduit in cross section.

7. A distorted, out-of-round conduit having internally disposed contracting means connecting opposite side walls.

8. A distorted conduit having internally disposed contracting means connecting opposite side walls, said means comprising wires passing through holes in said walls and twisted to draw said walls toward each other.

9. A distorted conduit having internally dis- .posed contracting means connecting opposite side walls, said means comprising members passing through perforations in the walls of said conduit and engaging at least one ridge of the corrugations'intemally of said conduit.

HUBERT E. SNYDER. 

